Here’s what’s coming in Android version 8

It’s been more than five months since Google launched Android 7.0 Nougat, and some of us were starting to get anxious regarding the next version. Nougat hasn’t done so well (in terms of market share) thus far, but things will probably warm up in due time as more device manufacturers adopt it.

Rumors doing round point to a May 17 launch for the next iteration of Google’s leading mobile operating system. Reportedly, the new version will be called Android O, and it might include three cool new features. According to Google senior vice president of Android, Chrome OS, and Google Play, one Hiroshi Lockheimer, the next version of Android OS will be called Orea (thus Android O). We have also seen reports that the company might issue out the Developer Preview version of Android O this fall.

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The first one of the three features that are expected to be carried in this Android version is ‘Copy Less’. Apparently, this will make copy-pasting bliss. Your Android device will be able to automatically detect relevant information that you might want to copy from the source whenever you’re sending text or email.

Feature number two will be baked right into the operating system. In the recent past, we have seen leading device manufacturers such as LG, Huawei and others add gestures. You can use these gestures, let’s say, for instance, to open the camera app by simply drawing ‘C’. Similarly, drawing the gesture ‘M’ launches the music app, and so on. This functionality is also available on custom ROMs such as Cyanogen OS, Lineage OS, and Oxygen OS. Speculation has it that this kind of rich gesture functionality could be part of Android O.

The third feature might be borrowed from Apple’s iOS. In the iPhone, the messaging app automatically detects addresses from messages, and tapping on it opens Maps and points you to the location. Currently, this feature isn’t available in Android OS. But rumor has it that it might debut with Android Oreo.

As Google works to make this next version of Android available soon, we’ll keep our eyes peeled to see what else might be coming for Android users.

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